Today I’d like to address two issues associated with family that are near and dear to my heart.

First, it’s been great getting a second chances both here are RedState and in life.  I first came to RedState over 3 years ago looking for good conservative information and good conversation and I found that here.  The posts, diaries, and comments brought me here and, although my commitment to the site was sorely tempted before disappearing for a while, I found that, like any big and rambunctious family, the majority of the site’s people, content, and comments section kept me interested and coming back.

In my opinion, the major difference and the strength of RedState over other conservative sites is found in the intelligent and thought provoking comments section.  But, the comments section needs thought provoking seed material in the posts to start the ball rolling below in that section.

I’ve noticed lately though that there are grumblings in this family about some of the content found in the posts on the site.  Not to say that those grumblers don’t deserve to grumble some it’s just that, as conservatives should know, in the free marketplace of ideas there are other ways people and family members can and should be doing to change the environment at RedState to something more to their liking.

I’ve heard said that the ties that bind a family together can carry both love or poison. I’m sure we have all seen examples of dysfunctional families where poisons of different strength was the dominant ingredient through those bonds.

One method of keeping that not-poison off our our tie-lines (so to speak) at RedState, like any other site providing ideas, is to increase the volume of other content that can be viewed on the site’s front page.  Since the dark times ended, Streiff has been promoting diaries in an unprecedented volume for this site so, where we once had good reasons to think our ideas wouldn’t be worth the effort to put into a diary because no one would read them, today, thanks to Streiff, we no longer have that reason not to write something.

So, I’d encourage any of the few dozen of people that spend time in the comment section to set aside an hour a week or day to develop ideas and create more diaries.  I’m sure I speak for a majority of the site’s members when I say that you’ll be welcomed with open arms.  It’ll take some time and effort to find your voice as a diarist but, for the sake of the family, how about if you try it maybe once a month or a once a week.  A place will be made in our hearts if you do.  If you’re worried that no one will read the diary you might go back early into Streiff’s archives and note how many of those have few to no comments.

Now, I said there were two things associated with family that are near and dear to my heart, the second one has affected the first one.

Over the past few months I’ve experience a few things that I think are worth sharing with the men on this site and any of the women who have men that they love in their lives.

Around December of last year while I was wandering in the wilderness I found out that things weren’t quite right health-wise.  Now, normally I have the constitution of a horse and my ability to concentrate is far higher than the vast majority of people.  Below is what I found that I think is worth sharing with my family so it might avoid someone else from going through what I went through.

I had an uncomfortable brush with acute renal failure that, I think, was avoidable.  I’m not going to go into the gory details but first, I’m mostly recovered, health-wise but now, in the glow of my restored health, when I look I see things that I and others missed that might be of use to others at this site.  It’s said that, as well-intentioned and as advanced as doctors have become, being a doctor is still a lot art over the science they use.

Based on my own experiences and those of others that I found while researching what this might mean to me here are some of the missed signs that might have kept me from going through what I went through.

All men are candidates for BPH affecting them, some earlier than others but it’s part of our burden of being men and I was no different.  For me, it’s hard to miss the signs and it started quite a while ago.  What is easy to miss are other signs that, in hindsight, I think are associated with this issue and are far more impactful than trouble in the men’s room.

Now, I am not a doctor but one of the first, non-BPH signs for me and others I have found in my research is the affect of the bladder filling up and spilling over into the kidneys.  How do I know this was happening?  My heart rate and blood pressure was all over the map when I laid down to sleep, my doctor told me I needed to take up meditation to learn how to control my anxiety.

But, all of my life I’ve worked long hours in challenging environments and that somehow didn’t ring true but I tried it, to no avail.  I was given BP medication but it turned out that my blood pressure was dropping dangerously low and we adjusted the medication.  Nothing worked and then the night came where I passed out from low blood pressure and broke a bone in my foot in the process.

The fact is that kidneys have a role to play with blood pressure so, wildly fluctuating blood pressure combined with signs of BPH seems like missed signs to me.

BP medication tried to treat the symptoms of the bladder extending and episodically filling up rather than the cause, that is the blockage.  It didn’t help that to lose weight I knocked off drinking alcohol and started drinking lots of water.  Now, I understand the men affected by this condition being reluctant to treat it but today’s minimally invasive treatments for BPH now make the treatments less risky for men.  Another possible side effect of this condition is the brain damage from the toxins left in your blood, a lesser included symptom is a loss of the ability to concentrate.  Again, think episodic results as the body is affected by the toxins.

I didn’t dodge the bullet with my name on it but it grazed me and may I may yet have to pay a price for what I went through.  I’ll address that when I come to it. I’d encourage everyone to recognize some of the symptoms of BPH and seek treatment early.

When my my personal health and the health of my business are restored I’ll get back in the saddle and write more diaries but in the meantime, why don’t you try to write a few yourselves.

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Drink up, that’s it for the Watercooler today. Thanks for stopping by, hanging out, and visit the other Watercoolers.

This is a guest post for the Tuesday’s Watercooler.